


Cinders of Timeless Lands

by auroranShadows



Category: Dark Souls III, Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Illustrated, Lost Memories, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pesterlog(s) (Homestuck), Undeath, dave crushing on everyone and falling hard for karkat, repeated character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2018-12-02 19:12:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11515659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auroranShadows/pseuds/auroranShadows
Summary: This is a Dark Souls Davekat focused AU with lore taken from all three games with a focus on the third game as well as twists put in from the homestuck universe. Eleven Ages of Fire have come and gone, and the cycle doesn't show any signs of stopping, now in the Sixth Century of the 12th Age of Fire a Dreamer of Derse wakes for the first time since it fell to the Dark in the 8th Age of Fire, and must find his way to it's reflection, Prospit, where hope still remains to rekindle the flame. There's just one problem, the curse has taken his memories, he's about to remeet everyone from his past, but is he ready for the consequences of being a lordseeker?





	1. Prologue: You who wakes.

**Author's Note:**

> You're not going to need any context from the Dark Souls Universe to read this but it might not be for everyone regardless. If you do read I'd love to hear from you in the comments section and enjoy the fic.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A note to a dreamer from a former lord.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A summery of the AUs version of the Dark Souls' Age of Ancients and a rough guide of what this universe is about.

You who sleeps in the obsidian towers hoping to wake to gold. You who will wander through the darkened streets in search for hallowed halls. You who have lost yourself to the curse brought about by lords forgotten.

You will have questions when you wake, some of which I attempt to answer here, you will have awoken in a Dream Tower in the Dark Swallowed Kingdom of Derse. Eons before you in the Age of Ancients the world was unformed, a Land of Fog and Trees, ruled by ancient beings known as the Circle, now only called the Horrorterrors, fitting name might I add. They ruled this unshaped world undisturbed for what can only be a near infinite amount of time. That is, until the remnants of a dying star the mass of two universes landed by meteor into the world, these remnants were a brilliant green flame, now known as the First Flame. 

Lords were born within the Dark cast by Fire, wielding souls born within its light, the Sylph a highly ambitious and powerful sorceress of light, like Icarus flew too close to the sun, she soon would let her ambition facilitate her fall from grace. The Red Fairy, a cheerful embodiment of endings and death, as eternal as the time you’ve spent asleep as silent as the ruins of Derse, an almost polar opposite to the Sylph, if polar opposites existed. She will aid the other lords, to see the next act, what will happen should the current world change? This is what she’ll always strive for, the future, whether bright or grim.

I will not waste time on the Shattered Prince of Lords, there will be no majestic prose about his role in this story, nor will I set the stage, or dim the lights. The mood, you will see, will be set soon enough, for he is the reason for the curse you bear, he is the monster gnawing at the roots of some great tree, so scared of the Dark he fell to it before he even embraced the Flame. Each of these Lords became so from the largest of souls brought by the Fire, Lord Souls. They would wield their newfound powers against the Circle along with a being of the flame known as the First Guardian, some say he is a loyal wolf, others depict a cunning cat, while even still, a faceless man, ready to enforce the will of the flame, for better or for worse.

There was however a fourth lord, one with a smaller Lord Soul, a Dark Soul, not so grand as the three others, but just as powerful, she would later be known as the First Queen, but calls herself the Author, she has no interest in the Lords’ crusade against the Circle, instead studying them, and the Dark Soul, from the site of what will later become the Light and Rain, rumoured birthplace of the Firekeepers, those who would tend to the cursed and the bonfires that drive them to continue a cycle not yet started. 

Despite this the Lords overwhelmed the Circle, cast them out to the Dark and so began the First Age of Fire a golden age for the Lords, but eventually it would fade and the Prince of Lords would use his mastery over Heart to bind humanity to the first flame, and then the first flame to the bonfires he would then link the fire but survive the process, to later be felled by an unknown Dreamer, the very Dreamers established to continue the cycle he started, who would then choose to link the fire, or denounce it in favour of the Dark.  
In the Second Age of Fire the Sylph’s overestimation of her own abilities, attempted to recreate the First Flame to use her powers to guide and “heal” a failed ember into a viable fire to stop a cycle that’s about to repeat itself, only for it to backfire and inadvertently create beings, bound to the fate of her species for eternity, or at least something close to that.

An encounter with the Red Fairy however, is so rare it’s practically unheard of, what she’s doing is anyone’s guess, covenants to her exist, but none can say what has become of her, she watches, waits for the moment the Age of Fire fades into nothing but memory, like the Age of Ancients before it.

So child of the First Queen, Dreamer of Derse, Knight of Time, I ask this of you, find the Firelink Shrine within these ruins, and light the bonfire there, what to do next, will become clear to you. 

As for the Author? Well she went on to do what all authors do, she _wrote_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this i guess teaser for the rest of the fic i have no idea when the next chapter is but i'd love to hear from anyone who liked it. I even take concrit since I'm still very fucking new at fic writing.


	2. I: The Hollowed Dreamer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dreamer Wakes on Derse, and stumbles into Prospit, he then proceeds to shove his foot in his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's Davekat week so I'm going to be dedicating this chapter to that, hope y'all enjoy watching dave crush on everyone including a Crestfallen Knight of Blood who he can't bring himself to talk to.

A former queen makes preparations in a kingdom felled by Dark, a bell will toll, a dreamer shall wake, first since the Eighth Age of Fire when Dark came. You will hear the bell and will rise from your eternal slumber, a Knight of Time, a child of the author, long lost to the whims of his sign, sleeping since the Eighth Age.

The bell tolls, the author visits the last standing dream tower of derse, she leaves a tome, documenting what has happened, and what is happening, continuously updating through her dark weaving of words. She takes her leave, as this is not her story.

You who wakes at the toll of the bell, the darkened eyeglasses shielding your eyes cracked, your clothes tattered. Your name is, well that’s the real question here, you know you’re a Knight of Time, you know roughly your age, you’re starting to realise you’ve got some muscle memory just by wielding the broken blade by your cryp~ I mean bed. What you don’t know is your past and your name, your memory corroded away by the Curse. You have a ring, use it to anchor yourself.

That is as far as you were able to read when you woke up at the whims of that infernal bell, so you take off the ring on your left ring finger, a simple silver band with some grooves on the outside and initials on the inside reading “DS”. Some words from the pages stuck with you, “find the Firelink Shrine within these ruins, and light the bonfire there”. As made perfectly obvious, you haven’t got a memory to your name, or even a name for that matter, so DS will have to do. You also guess it’s about time you absconded from this tower.

You make your way down the tower, outside you’re met with hollows, those who have been completely broken by the curse, no more than mindless zombies. Your piece of shit broken sword and muscle memory will have to do while you clear out the hollows on your way through the darkened streets of Derse. Through its many headstones, untended graves as far as the eye can see, which would be very little, were you not surprisingly accustomed to the Dark.

Getting nearer to the city the hollows get fewer and farther between, as if something is keeping them away from the large clock tower and overly gothic palace attached to it. It doesn’t strike you as any different to the rest of this place, but you head on. You arrive at an arena, here a coiled sword remains on the ground, and a note fading in and out of existence.

you’ll face greater threats   
out side of here, so i took care of the   
shrine’s gate keeper for you.   


and before i forget!   
don’t let her   
in.

You’re not quite sure who you’re not supposed to let in you should probably just ignore that but, knowing you, it’s doubtful you will. 

You pick up the coiled sword, thinking it’s much better than your current one. It’s a shame there aren’t anymore hollows between this arena and the shrine to test it out. Convenient really, almost like you aren’t meant to use it as a sword, huh. You allow yourself to get lost in your thoughts on the remaining way to the shrine, thinking about what could have happened to this place, and trying to piece together anything from your past to no avail. 

By the time you snap out of your thoughts you’ve arrived at the over gothic palace you noted earlier. The clock tower, unlike the rest of this very purple kingdom, is a dark green. You note its near striking resemblance to the Houses of Parliament if you remember correctly, which it’s fair to think you might not, in London. Though it’s lacking in the bits of troll architecture you recall it having. Now that you think of it, the tower is more cherubic than human, which wasn’t the case with the original you saw in pictures. Well we’ve learned that you can recall things you’ve seen at least, assuming you aren’t making shit up.

As you get closer to the building you poke the wall with your new sword, bored out of your mind. At this an illusion fades and a large archway becomes visible, so that’s where the troll architecture went to, or at least, some of it. The greys somehow working well against the purples and greens of the rest of the structure. It leads down below the palace, like the rest of the place it’s dark, darker even. You almost miss the hollows, at least there were other... well, not living things per say, but close enough. Trolls sure love their excessive stairs, if only someone had warned you, even the central chamber is basically all stairs. Ahead, there are six thrones, or remnants of thrones would be better said, all empty bar one which has the green ashes of a cherub. The centre of the chamber is circular with a wooden bowl of bones in the middle. 

Going down the various stairs and looking back you can now make out various tunnels going deeper into what you assume is the Shrine, how could it not be, the excessive stairs, the thrones, a bowl of bones, all of that screams shrine to you. You turn around again and this time the throne at the top of the shrine seems to be filled by a dark figure. It scares out of you whatever living daylights you had left, but you blink and if there was anything sitting there it’s now gone. There’s now a sign near the bone bowl, similar to one you saw outside at the arena, also fading in and out like before.

Bonfire ahead,  
use the coiled sword and bring  
light to the Dark.

You place the coiled sword into the bones, lowkey lamenting that you have to keep using your shitty sword now, you instinctively keep your hand over its hilt. The dark sign on your chest, a dark mass of scars shaped almost like a gear, glows a reddish colour. A lowly red flame starts in the 'Fallen Kingdom' Bonfire giving some light to the otherwise darkened shrine. You sit down, drawn in by the flame feeling warmth for the first time since you woke. 

After a while of sitting by the fire lost in your thoughts, you hear voices from the tunnels leading further into the shrine. You weren’t going to go down there because it’s the darkest parts of the shrine but this is the first time you’ve heard the voices of actual people and not the groans and schreeching of the hollows wandering the graves of Derse. So you stand up and cautiously make your way in, past an empty chair something glowing on it, a captchalogue card, apparently filled with the Darkened Ashes of a Handmaid. The ashes look like the arm of an old woman, you can see some red cloth with faded white markings in the card too and what seems to be burnt blueish cookies? Did you mention you love dead shit? If not well, you love dead shit, so you decide to keep the card. 

You keep making your way further in, the path is almost a bridge cutting the room in half, leading to abandoned blacksmithing tools and a large red curtain covering something at the back, where the voices seem to be coming from. You pull the curtain down to find a large screen in the shape of a window, to your disappointment, this is where the voices are coming from. You sit leaning against it already fed up with your situation and pissed off that you allowed yourself to hope there was anyone else there. Your instincts seem to point at not allowing yourself to feel anything but you don’t care, if the version of you with memories cared that much that was his problem, you let yourself cry.

Let’s be the other guy for a while shall we, well, we can’t be the other guy because he’s being moody all sitting on his stairs or something so we’ll be this girl instead. 

Your name is Rose Lalonde and you are a Firekeeper at the Firelink Shrine in Prospit, tending to the bonfire of the same name, below the golden palaces of Westminster or something, with you is your long time wife Kanaya, who was and still is the original Firekeeper of Prospit. That being said you were once a Firekeeper of Derse, about three ages of fire ago, before it fell to Dark. 

Before you can do anything of interest the shrine is filled with faint crying coming from the deeper levels, but that would be impossible, except the voice is familiar, it couldn’t be though, could it? 

Kanaya is more than capable of tending to the Bright Green bonfire burning in the centre of the Shrine while you go towards the blacksmithing quarters and past Nanna, the Shrine’s Handmaid, caretaker if you will. You reach the end and pull off the Green Curtains covering a Fenestrated Wall unused in centuries, not since you escaped Derse with Kanaya’s help, you see a boy clad in red sitting and leaning against the glass.

You hear footsteps behind you but you ignore them since they’re coming from the screen you are currently leaning on. The tears have mostly stopped, though you haven’t wiped any from your face. There’s whoosh as if a curtain were being pulled and a tap on the glass, which makes you flinch. You stand up to see a girl clad in oranges and yellows standing in a reflection of the same room you’re in, but instead of dark, it is filled with light from various candles everywhere, you see a green curtain on the floor like the red one you took off. She waves at you, you think, but how? It’s got to be pre-recorded or something, despite your better judgement you wave back.

DS: hi  
Rose: Hello, you wouldn’t know how relieved I am to see you there.  
DS: shit wait you can hear me  
Rose: Yes, obviously. Now how about you make your way over here so I can talk to you properly? Derse isn’t very accommodating as of late.  
Rose: Wait, did you light a bonfire?  
DS: yeah i think thats what i just did  
DS: who even are you actually no we can talk after i figure out how youre doing that and after i find a way to wherever you are  
DS: but it looks just like the place im at fuck  
DS: ok youre fucking with me you gotta be but if im being honest here this is better than the nothing i was dealing with for the past few hours and before that a fucking bell rang and almost deafened me and then theres those notes phasing in and out of time or somesuch and i have this stupid book with me thats utterly useless and might aswell have been written by captain obvious just earlier i thought i saw someo  
Rose: I see you still run your mouth as much as I remember, but you definitely don’t, remember I mean. I’ll make this simple then, you just have to walk through the Land of Fog and Trees.

You try to call out as if to ask what she means but she’s already gone, if she can hear you she’s making a show of ignoring you. There’s a crack in the screen from where you were leaning your back against it, mist faintly flowing through them. You decide mist is close enough to fog and try to smash the glass, it collapses easily, ,leaving in it’s wake a wall of flowing mist. You mutter encouragements to yourself, take a deep breath and walk through, “inside” if you can call it that, there are grey crags and large archtrees, you can hear voices but you try and block them out by talking to yourself, which flows into rap, which was too sick to put into writing else the world collapse or something. 

You eventually step out of the mist into the reflection of the shrine you saw, lit up by candles. There’s still no one tending the smithing shit but there’s someone in the chair you passed the first time round. She greets you with a pie in the face and then offers you cookies as an apology and introduces herself as Nanna E.

Nanna: Hoo hoo I hope I didn’t scare you dear!  
DS: uh  
Nanna: Oh where are my manners, you don’t even know anything about me, or this place for that matter!  
Nanna: As a Dreamer you have a long journey ahead of you, the Firekeepers of this Shrine will probably tell you more. I have to resist the urge to spoil too much but if you’re interested I will tell you what I can. Hoo hoo!  
DS: sure uh thanks  
Nanna: Don’t you mention it dear. I’ll get right to it!   
Nanna: Prospit is part of a collective of realms known as Skaia, Derse was once part of Skaia. It was a twin to Prospit, as you may have noticed, a twin caused by the way time ebbs and flows here, around the time of the fading flame.  
DS: so uh why doesnt it count as part of skaia anyway its the same planet right i mean i vaguely recall we called this place skaia before the curse or at least one of the names we gave it along with i think earth probably alternia at one point there was beforus i think and some people just called it ho  
Nanna: I don’t want to interrupt you dear but if I am to answer your question you need to let me speak. Though I must warn you I’m known to be very cryptic hoo hoo. So listen carefully before meeting with the Firekeepers.  
DS: right sorry  
Nanna: You don’t need to apologise dear, it’s only that time is of the essence.  
Nanna: Derse was lost to the Dark and so does not count as a part of our world. It is beyond Skaia now in a Veil of Dark, that fenestrated wall is the only thing linking it to us and I thought it shut down for centuries. You being here is quite the miracle!  
Nanna: Around Prospit lies an Ocean known as the Light and Rain you will find familiarity there and regret concealed by twisted comfort, every realm has its shores on the Light and Rain, which you might have noticed Derse lacked.  
DS: yeah there was definitely no oceans back there  
Nanna: You are known as a Hollowed Dreamer, a Dreamer of Derse, closer to the hollows than most undead, a true Bearer of the Curse and are the first to wake there since it entered the Age of Dark. On the other hand, the boy in the main chamber, sitting by his lonesome is an Ashen Dreamer, a Dreamer of Prospit. Ashen Ones tend to be closer to the living than the dead, but just as easily able to fall after enough is lost to the Curse. Though no one knows much about him in particular, other than that he is Bloodbound and like you, a Knight.  
Nanna: I won’t go into more details now dear but in case it slipped my mind to tell you, I am the handmaid of this Shrine, and Lifebound, though unlike you and the Ashen Ones, I am no Dreamer. If you bring me Souls, the very essence of creation and currency of the undead, I can grant you my wares. Hoo hoo!  
Nanna: Even more so if you find Umbral Ash I can use what little powers over my sign I have left to create new wares.   
DS: i uh actually found this on derse come to think of it it was on your chair and the card calls it ash so it must be what you mean right  
Nanna: Oh my I see... so that's what became of me. I had wondered... nevermind that. I’ll see what I can do with this Ash feel free to browse my current things and when you return I’ll have some more for you! You better meet with Kanaya and her wife, Rose, who I wager you have already met!  
DS: shit so shes married  
Nanna: You wouldn’t work well together dear, trust an old woman on that would you. You will see why soon enough!  
Nanna: Hoo hoo hoo!

When Nanna finally lets you on your way and after you’ve browsed her store you finally go into the main chamber of the shrine. The throne that was covered in cherub ashes on Derse is filled by a limeblooded Cherub with tattered white, almost grey, wings. She seems excited to see you and calls you over, you notice the Knight angrily shouting at the Firekeepers, especially at Rose, who looks smug, but you choose to go to the cheery cherub not willing to deal with that mess and not to be rude to her, plus she seems adorable and you are deprived of any contact human or otherwise.

DS: so uh hi  
Calliope: hello there, darling.  
Calliope: welcome to the firelink shrine, my name is calliope. ^u^  
DS: shit gods dammit thanks for the welcome and uh i guess i go by DS since i dont fucking remember my name like a chump   
DS: ive also heard bearer of the curse knight of time the knight hollowed dreamer timebound dreamer of derse take your fucking pick really i go by many titles but no names it seems  
Calliope: oh im so sorry, if its any consolation lovely everyone aroUnd here Usually goes by their titles and not their names.   
Calliope: also its common for names to elUde Us even Under the gUiding light of skaia and the first flame. some say especially so, a byprodUct of the cUrse.   
Calliope: nanna over there for example lost hers around yoUr age, has been calling herself nanna ever since. if my memory is correct it started as a joke on her doting behavioUr, did she offer you cookies? They’re lovely. ^u^  
DS: yeah after a pie in the face i guess shes quite the jokester for some reason that reminds me of someone but im not sure who  
Calliope: :U  
Calliope: yeah be carefUl, that isnt the only trick in her book. and to finish the name thing i had a brother once. i lost his name when i predominated dUring my linking of the fire which i will not go into. too many casUal spoilers in that story.  
Calliope: thoUgh given the natUre of the qUest waiting for yoU, it woUldnt be shrewd of me to rUle oUt the possibility of rediscovering names lost to the cUrse. maybe even yoUrs! ~3u  
DS: ok has anyone told you how fucking adorable you are   
DS: and is that british are you from britain ive never been but with where this shrine is im not surprised i guess also i can almost hear your us and your emoting makes me want to do more than a B| wait shit thats uh how about BJ no wow fuck i give up  
Calliope: ~_u  
DS: if weve never spoken before the curse or in some other part of paradox space or whatever we were missing the fuck out   
DS: at least i know i was  
Calliope: ^u^  
Calliope: yoU soUnd jUst like her yoU know.  
Calliope: well i gUess yoU woUldnt bUt thank yoU for the compliments. ^u^  
Calliope: i sUppose yoU want to know exactly why i get to sit on a fancy throne of stone.  
DS: well it wouldnt hurt or anything  
Calliope: withoUt any casUal spoilers i am a lord of cinder, my specific title being the mUse of cinder, i sUppose like a hero of legend, thoUgh i never imagined i woUld be one myself. i UsUally read aboUt legends not experience them! :U  
Calliope: in the eleventh age of fire around ten centUries and a qUarter or so into it me and my coUnterpart, my brother so to speak we were to link the fire to save this world and we did.  
Calliope: It took a lot of persUading him, plenty of arm twisting if yoU will and to go against his tendencies was a miracle at best. :U  
Calliope: in the end i sUrvived the linking of the fire maybe throUgh my will, maybe throUgh sheer luck thoUgh i sUspect the latter, while he did not.  
Calliope: i had completed a process i never intended to complete which is why i dont type in his blood like others of my kind might do after predomination. what even he woUld have done had it been the reverse.  
Calliope: oh im sorry to be trailing off like that aboUt myself, i jUst love stories, and am delighted to have my own. i always have loved stories. in fact id say i knew yoUrs long before yoU woke but thats for another day. ~_u  
Calliope: there are five other lords of cinder, some like me had people they linked the fire with, others did it alone, some were selfish in their reasons, others were selfless  
Calliope: one by one they all absconded from their thrones, and Understandably too.  
Calliope: linking the fire was no easy feat the first time and some still have nightmares.  
Calliope: bUt i chose to stay for the people i care aboUt, for the world i care aboUt, for a dreamer lost in the dark, so that the loss of my brother was not in vain.  
Calliope: yoUr role in all this is important even if you dont know it yet. speak to rose she is like a sister to me and in time yoUll see why yoUre already like a brother.  
Calliope: oh and before i forget! if you ever need me to change the properties of an item, cherUbim have an innate power to create dichotomies in objects and ideas, amplified by my role as a mUse of space.

Wow you sure are crushing on basically everyone you see, she was adorable, and kinda cryptic at the same time. Though she mentioned you reminded her of someone she knew so, its not like you plan on acting on any crushes you have anyway. You notice the Ashen Knight is no longer in the Shrine and before you decide to look for him Rose and Kanaya come over to you.

Kanaya: You Must Be The Knight Of Time And Hollowed Dreamer Of Derse Rose Speaks Fondly Of You  
Rose: I do not, I have no idea what she is talking about and frankly I am shocked she would say something like that.  
Kanaya: What She Means To Say Is Welcome To Firelink Shrine Bearer Of The Curse  
Rose: Right, well, we were trying to figure out what exactly your situation is. You’re quite the anomaly, DS was it?  
DS: i dont think i told you my name to be honest with you rose and if were still on this honesty train going at some insane amount of miles per hour like 413 or somesuch i dont fucking know what im doing or what is fucking going on  
DS: even with the oh so many conveniently helpful yet strangely cryptic exposition ladies you have handing out information like cheap cigars around this place  
Kanaya: I Dont Think We Are An Exception Even With Your Terrible Analogies  
DS: my analogies are fucking great what are you talking about damn rose your wife is sassy as fuck somehow stings more when its said in such a clear cut voice too  
Rose: I know, it’s beautiful and I love her. Now do you want to hear some cryptic ladies handing out information like cheap cigars?  
DS: sure do  
Rose: Then try be quiet for more than a few minutes for once in your life. I promise you will get to ramble as much as your heart’s content after we’re done, alright Da... uh DS.  
DS: er  
Rose: Good, perfect, Kanaya please start while I, go check the most favourable outcome of this conversation, yes that’s what I will be doing now, maybe I will find my cat while I’m at it.  
Kanaya: Rose Just Because Something Is Awkward Doesnt Mean You Should Walk Away From It  
Kanaya: If That Were The Case We Wouldnt Be Human Married So You Will Stay Here And We Will Talk With The Dreamer Like We Are Supposed To  
DS: well shit rose just got a yellow card or something by the ref for a penalty  
Rose: Ah, the sports, how I have missed them.  
DS: i cant believe you forgot the sports long enough to miss them like what is this the apocalypse wait no dont answer that ok so im going to shut up youre apparently going to get over whatever it is you need to get over in order to talk to me and kanaya im assuming will help us do that and interject at times to keep the pacing or somesuch  
Rose: And I thought I was the Seer here, turns out DS has just predicted the future. Mostly that is.  
Rose: As a Dreamer, your role is to return the Lords of Cinder back to their thrones for the linking of the fire.  
Rose: You are usually called Ashen Ones because of the lack of Hollowed Dreamers.  
Rose: So it might be that you will be mistaken for one by the people of Skaia, which should be interesting, I’m going to want to test out some things on you once in awhile so be warned of that.  
Kanaya: Rose  
Rose: As if you don’t want to know the results.  
Kanaya: No If He Wants To Help You He WIll If Not He Will Not Become Your Testing Rodent  
Rose: I can never have any fun.  
DS: if it helps me figure my shit out ill fucking do anything  
Rose: Don’t give me that look, I promise I won’t hurt him. He’s too important to me.  
DS: uh  
Rose: Never mind that. What’s important is that you get on your quest to find the Lords. In the ocean around Prospit you will find an amalgam of cities, one is New York and the other Houston.  
Rose: Undeath conveniently means you won’t need any air while down there.  
Kanaya: Dont Forget The Deadly Soul Powered Android That Calls That Place His Domain  
Rose: I was just getting to that, said android is an Heir of Fire, powerful wielders of souls and almost hollow to boot.  
Rose: This one is waiting for a dancestor of his creator and has been modifying the cities for their arrival for some time now.  
Kanaya: Time Has Eroded Familial Ties And As Such It Has Become A Custom To Refer To Blood Relations As Dancestors Or Descendent Ancestors The Term Coined By The First Firekeepers Under The Sylph Of Light.  
Rose: Any questions, oh valiant knight?  
DS: how am i expected to go on some epic quest looking for some legendary pieces of shit and bring them back to their thrones im just some asshole who woke up in a dark place wanting to get the fuck out why cant i just be some dude of guy instead of a knight of time  
Rose: I feel like you’ve asked something like that before, maybe not recently. That said, we don’t need two crestfallen or we’d run out of dreamers and the world would fall to the dark. You know actually that would be an interes...  
Kanaya: No We Are Not Doing This Again Last Time Was Bad Enough  
DS: last time  
Kanaya: I Think This Is Enough Exposition So I Will Leave You With This Bring Us Souls And We Will Use Our Powers To Empower You Throughout Your Journey Through Skaia  
DS: i  
Kanaya: Its Best You Be On Your Way Bearer Of The Curse

You decide to just listen to the irritated Firekeeper but you can’t help but feel like something's off about this place, about you even. You follow the stairs out the same way you came in while on Derse and are met with golden spires and a relatively bright sky, despite the cloud cover. You see the troll knight sitting by a grave decorated with a broken sword leaning against a tree fiddling with a golden ring that’s tied to a chain necklace he wears. You’re getting flustered just looking at him but he seems what was it Rose said? Crestfallen?  
Honestly he looks more angry than anything else you aren’t sure if you should talk to him.

He catches a glimpse of you staring before looking away so you decide that answers that question and just head further out into Prospit proper, a cemetery of ash, just like last time the path between the shrine and the arena area is lacking in hollows. There is a bonfire, in the centre of the arena, you imagine there was supposed to be one on Derse but was long made nonfunctional. 

You reach out for the bonfire, only to be struck down from behind by something you couldn’t see and you fall, your very life force escapes your hollowed and scarred body, a pool of blood forms around you, you close your eyes as everything fades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's gonna be actual Davekat Dialogue in the next chapter, if you know the Dark Souls universe you'll know what happens after the Bearer of the Curse dies and if not, I promise you everything will be alright. 
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and shit.


	3. II: Always and Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get better, DS talks to the mopey troll dude and then they get worse. Enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dave dies alot, but they're mostly off screen, except the last one near the end.

The bonfire at the shrine begins its secondary function, a display of various bright colours and countless unknown worlds can be seen in the flames. The clock tower’s hands go between the left and right sides of the clockface, the tower changing between gold and purple. Eventually it settles at twelve exactly and remains its usual green, an exact mirror of the one on Derse. At that very moment a body rises out of the flames, covered in the same energies the bonfire was showing earlier, now its usual green.

When the flames fade, you step forward, as you were before you were killed, the Knight sitting in his usual spot stands up and leaves, without thinking, you go after him. You unwittingly do something that causes your dark sign to glow again and find yourself in front of him blocking his way out of the shrine.

DS: hi  
The Knight: NO.  
DS: uh  
The Knight: NO. NO FUCKING WAY. I AM NOT FUCKING DEALING WITH YOU AND YOUR SHIT RIGHT NOW SO HELP ME SKAIA IF YOU DON’T GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY SHITBIRD.  
DS: woah uh i guess ill leave you alone uh  
The Knight: KARKAT.  
DS: what?  
Karkat: MY FUCKING NAME PAY ATTENTION, MY NAME IS KARKAT AND I’VE REALLY JUST GOT OVER THE SHIT I WENT THROUGH LAST TIME I DON’T NEED TO DEAL WITH YOUR MUSCLEBEAST SHIT RIGHT NOW. SO PLEASE JUST GO AROUND BEING A HERO AND FINISH THE FIREKEEPER’S RIDICULOUS QUEST TO FIND THE LORDS OR WHATEVER IT IS YOU DO. AND SINCE I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE LIKE I WILL SPELL IT OUT TO YOU. I AM NOT UP FOR DEALING WITH *YOU* OR THEM OR ANYONE RIGHT NOW.  
DS: wait last time what do you meant last time  
Karkat: WHAT PART OF I AM NOT DEALING WITH YOU DOESN’T YOUR DELICATE CURSED THINK PAN GET? NOW IF YOU’LL EXCUSE ME I’M GOING TO GO OUTSIDE AND SCREAM INTO THE ABYSS.  
DS: i hope it doesnt scream back  
Karkat: JUST... OH MY GODS

Karkat ends up laughing but soon catches himself and stops suddenly, going to the spot by the headstone you saw him at before you died. Fuck, you died and it's only just occurred to you suddenly you’ve got your own shit to deal with so you leave him be and decide to sit by the bonfire unsure of how to process the earlier events.

Your name is Karkat Vantas and your routine has been broken by some douche in shades, well, not any douche in shades, your douche in shades, but that’s another story. Said douche in shades has lost his memory and that’s already been said like one hundred and eleven times or something so we’ll gloss over that too.

You woke up some few centuries ago probably four and a bit but time isn’t your thing, the flame started fading around that time, and now in the 612th sweep of the 12th age of fire some almost two centuries since you woke, one DS wakes up on Derse and waltzes over to Prospit. Whatever gods survived over the ages are probably doing this specifically to spite you in particular. You’re not overreacting either, but you won’t get into why. 

Where were you anyway? Oh right, your shades douche is back from the dead and it’s messing with your routine. Said routine involves sitting in the shrine, arguing with Kanaya, fucking up something in said argument sending Rose’s eyebrows into the skies. You also like listening to Calliope talk about all the lore she’s gathered over the ages, which then ends up with you thinking about and loudly cursing your ancestor. When you’re done with all that you sit against a tree outside the Shrine, in front of an empty grave with a broken sword.

The Shackled, a Lord of Lords supposedly, he sounds like a pompous ass you think. A self loathing, obsessive, loud and obnoxious asshole who couldn’t even die right. Lords of Cinder, cursed by the Elizabeth Tower and its giant ass bell, nigh unconditional immortality, bar one way out. A Lord becomes such by linking the fire, and for whatever unfortunate reason, survives to remember it, your ancestor linked the flame during the 6th Age of Fire in its 12th century, likely somewhere around the 1216th sweep or so. He was supposedly the most powerful of the Lords, enough to rival The Shattered Prince but apparently with a noble, if angry, heart. Only one way to die as a Lord, the very act that granted this immortality will finally take it away, relinking the fire. Problem is, they all remember the first time, and rightfully want nothing to do with it, which is where Unkindled like you come in. You’re to chase these immortal gods and somehow convince them to die for this craphole a second time, whatever it takes. 

Then comes a Dreamer of Derse of all things to mess with that entire balance, and seems to have taken it upon himself to do what the Prospit Dreamers were tasked with, have at it for all you care. Maybe he can bring peace to that asshole you call an ancestor. Speaking of, he’s died probably almost a dozen times this past hour, each time practically begging to get near you, you’ve learned to read the subtlest of his expressions sweeps ago. Wait, what in Skaia’s checkerboarded asshole is Rose doing and in what universe would anyone think that’s a good idea.

Karkat: NO DON’T!

You see the shock in his eyes as the flames consume him entirely, a red tear stains your face you angrily shout expletives at Rose before leaving the shrine

On the headstone at your usual spot, with the broken sword a name is scratched off but is written:

Here lies the empty grave of  
**D ~~ave~~ S ~~trider~~**  
Dreamer of Derse Knight of Time  
Brother Friend Hero  
**Always and Forever**  
  
December 3rd 924-3AF  
to  
April 13th 1111-8AF

Moments earlier, but not many. You have died more times than you have fingers to count, you’ve attempted to converse with the Knight of Hot, you mean Blood, yeah Knight of Blood. By “converse” you mean you’ve stared at him hoping he’d notice you even through your shades, which is ridiculous, but as far as you could tell he didn’t. The Shrine’s Gatekeeper, apparently an Heir of Fire according to the messages outside the arena, a centaur by the name of Equius has been whooping your ass with nothing but his fists for about an hour now and your condition has only been getting worse with each death, everyone’s noticed, and you hide in your clothes more than usual.

Rose: Did I mention how adorable your Knight getup is DS? Because like this quest you got from a motherly goddess, it is very adorable.  
DS: fuck i knew i shouldnt have given you that book.  
Rose: Always trust your first instincts, brother.  
DS: wait fuck what did you just say  
Rose: I am getting inpatient with this curse so I’m trying to help it along or break it even, I’ve tried something like this before, it didn’t turn out so well, but it can’t hurt to say this, I’m your twin sister and before you ask, yes your initials are still correct, I took our mother’s name, you took the name of the sperm donor, out of spite, I applaud you to this day.  
DS: i fuck that that feels right you as my sister i mean shit i crushed on you gods dammit rose  
Rose: Some things never change, your inability to shut up being one of them, and your inability to stop crushing on literally anyone that says hello to you is another.  
DS: do not waggle those eyebrows at me put them the fuck back down  
Rose: I’ve missed this, for what little that is worth to your current broken memory and I can’t tell you anymore at the moment, but I have something for you, hopefully it will work with a Derse Dreamer as it does with a Propsit one.

She gives you a burning ember, burns a bright green, like the shrine’s bonfire but weaker, Rose explains to you that embers restore the lifeforce of the undead, placed through a Dreamer’s heart through their dark sign. So you do just that. 

Karkat: NO DON’T!

Your body begins to radiate the green flames and for a moment, it gives you a warmth you haven’t felt in a while, but after that it begins to actually burn. You hear Karkat’s shouting, it was like nothing you’ve heard from him, pained but angry, you see his red tears as the flames consume you entirely, you think you heard him angrily shouting at Rose but you weren’t sure, it’s now dark and cold, like all the other times you’ve died. A spectacle of a resurrection at the shrine’s bonfire later and you’re good as new, the ember still on the floor where it killed you, except that you’re still hollowed as ever. Both in appearance, and now in spirit, you just don’t have the energy to get back on your feet, so you sit by the bonfire, holding back tears of your own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I made myself cry with this one, hope y'all enjoyed it and as usual I'd love to hear peoples thoughts or whatever in the comments.


	4. III: The Broken Clock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat hasn't cried in as long as the clocktower has been stuck on 4:13, which is a very long time. Two knights band together to battle an heir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW three months since the last update apparently, university is killing me but whatever here's a thing. i should be doing coursework rip.
> 
> Warning Dave has a panic attack in this chapter. (i also try my best to write it properly so if i messed up, please please let me know, i've gotten them before but i never know how to talk about this kinda thing so)

You are now Karkat, and you haven’t cried in, what’s today’s date again? It’s uh, the Forty-third of September 612-12AF, you like to keep track, keeps you sane. In that case you haven’t cried in around four ages of fire, the Thirteenth of April 1111-8AF, when you lost the love of your life to the dark, or, so you thought, and now SHE fucking experiments on him like they aren’t weirdass human hatchmates, you say weirdass but you’re used to it, everyone is, humans and troll have coexisted for millennia, since at least the 5th Age of Fire, after they linked the flame for the first time, but there’s records of them before the 4th Age of Fire.

As for the weird dates? Those are a result of a compromise between two calendar systems, sweeps are used but the human perigees, were kept, barring the change of the number of nights in each one, roughly doubled, you won’t get into it, but the sweep counter is reset every age of fire, you’re certain this is the last one frankly, or you were, before he came back.

The clock is still, at 4.13, he’s not awake yet, his ashes are on the ground, on top is the ember that killed him, you choke back your tears and keep yelling at the firekeepers, well at Rose to be exact.

Karkat: WHAT THE EVERLOVING HOOFBEAST’S ASS IS FUCKING *WRONG* WITH YOU LALONDE?  
Rose: I was trying to actually help him Karkat.  
Karkat: MURDER DOESN’T HELP ANYONE REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY SKAIAFORSAKEN TIMES WE COME BACK FROM IT.  
Rose: You know what I mean.  
Karkat: BY ALL MEANS, PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME OH GREAT SEER OF WHATEVER BULLFUCKING LIGHT REMAINS IN THIS FLAMELESS ASS-SCAPE. BECAUSE FROM WHERE I WAS STANDING, YOU GAVE A DERSEASS BEARER OF THE CURSE FUCKING *EMBERS* WHEN YOU KNOW WELL ENOUGH THOSE ONLY WORK WITH UNKINDLED FROM THIS SIDE OF THE FENESTRATED WALL.  
Rose: It’s been millennia since we’ve had a Dreamer of Derse, Karkat, there isn’t any Mortality left to give, even if I wanted to, it was worth a shot, even if a stab in the dark.  
Karkat: YOU SHOULD’VE WARNED HIM, OR EVEN *ME*.  
Kanaya: Yes Warning People Of Your Plans Might Be A Great Idea Rose  
Karkat: AT LEAST *SOMEONE* HAS A FUCKING THINKPAN HERE *THANK* YOU KANAYA.  
Rose: Oh don’t you start bugging and fussing and meddling.  
Kanaya: Rose Please  
Kanaya: I Am A Firekeeper Bugging And Fussing And Meddling Is What I Do  
Karkat: *SNORTS* AND ON THAT NOTE I’M OUTTA HERE. BYE.

As you leave the bonfire's flames do their bullshit conditional mortality lightshow that was once upon a time considered a blessing of the gods. You make yourself scarce, you’re certain he saw you cry and you aren’t ready to deal with that yet.

You try to be the other guy for a while, well, you can’t be the other guy because he’s being moody all staring into the bonfire or something.

You are now the Knight of Time. We’ll skip the resurrection since we covered that twice now, you sit by the bonfire, staring into the green flames, unsure of yourself. You aren’t ready to do much of anything, the ember is still there, you try not to think about it, and don’t even look at the firekeepers. Some Knight of Time you turned out to be, can’t even handle a bit of death, and you’re fucking undead.

After some time you get up, and wander the shrine, trying to clear your head, you think you saw Kanaya pick up the ember from your ashes, but you put that to the back of your mind.  
Something draws you to the clocktower, that thing has some power over revivals, or at least, it’s a means of displaying whatever actually has the power to pick who lives and who dies. 

Everything you’ve seen of Skaia is a mishmash of various architectural styles, from the spires of the carapaces, to the giant hives of the trolls, as well as the ever geometric human buildings all over the place, but the tower, that still manages to stand out, cherubim in origin, and it’s the only thing like that, excluding the one on Derse, which might be the same place but you are not ready to deal with time bullshit right now, despite the fact in this world, everyone is dealing with time bullshit, all the time and also never. 

You find yourself inside said clocktower now, the bell looks ancient, you can somehow tell it’s been used recently, but, where is everyone else? You guess Karkat is a dreamer, but something's off there, you aren’t sure what. Nanna said she was once a dreamer but that would mean she isn’t anymore, and you, well you didn’t wake up here, you woke up on Derse, and no one wakes up there anymore apparently. 

Your train of thought is interrupted when you see a large bird’s nest right below the bell, it’s got green fur and orange feathers in a small heap, they seem to be made of the samem, or at least very similar, material though. You aren’t quite sure how, you captchalogue some of each into one card for some reason.

You hear Karkat loudly complaining about the firekeepers and some shit about you, it sounds like he’s trying to mutter, that guy can’t do anything quietly apparently, wait shit he’s looking for you, why does your chest hurt suddenly? 

Karkat: (damn rose and her forsaken fucking help no one asked her to meddle and there he goes running off to bloody empress’ tattooed asshole knows where for me to fi)   
Karkat: SHIT ARE YOU OK?   
DS: i  
Karkat: I’M A SHITTING IDIOT OF COURSE YOU AREN’T OK.   
Karkat: OK TRY AND PACE YOUR BREATHING AND USE THIS PILE OF STUBBLINDING NEON FEATHERMANE FUR TO LAY DOWN ON IT’S BETTER THAN THIS SORRY EXCUSE FOR A FLOOR..

At that he starts taking the fur and feathers you haven’t captchad and makes a makeshift bed out of it, and helps you to it, you follow his advice on the breathing as you lay down, you think it’s helping, but how does he…

Karkat: WHILE YOU’RE AT IT FIND SOMETHING TO FOCUS ON ANYTHING AT ALL AND IT MIGHT HELP TO HOLD ONTO THAT SHITTY SWORD OF YOURS.

You find yourself focusing on him of all things, his red eyes are full of worry and for some reason that comforts you, the hurting in your chest is barely noticeable now and you hold tight to the hilt of your sword once you fumble to find it. Karkat is now pacing, it’s helping you find a rhythm.

DS: thanks  
DS: but  
DS: why are you helping me  
Karkat: YOU’RE AN IDIOT BUT YOU REMIND ME OF SOMEONE, HE WAS ALSO AN IDIOT BUT…  
DS: is it the headstone you keep visiting  
Karkat: YES, I’D RATHER NOT TALK ABOUT IT HOW ARE YOU FEELING?  
DS: better  
Karkat: I’M COMING WITH YOU  
DS: what  
Karkat: TO THE LIGHT AND RAIN AND WHEREVER ELSE YOU DRAG ME TO  
DS: oh I  
DS: i dont think i want to keep at this  
Karkat: THAT’S A LIE AND ALSO WHY YOU’RE AN IDIOT, I KNOW YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT BEING A HERO. SO THINK OF IT THIS WAY INSTEAD, YOU’RE SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO HELP HIS FRIENDS AND BEFORE YOU START YOU MAY THINK YOU HAVE NONE NOW BUT YOU HAVE A WAY OF WORMING YOUR WAY INTO PEOPLE’S BLOOD PUMPS, EVEN ROSE’S TWISTED EXPERIMENT WAS DONE BECAUSE SHE CARES ABOUT YOU, JUST TRY NOT TO USE ANY EMBERS OK?  
DS: truly inspiring  
Karkat: FUCK YOU.  
DS: is that an invitation  
Karkat: NEVERMIND GUESS I’M STAYING RIGHT HERE HAVE FUN FIGHTING OFF LEGIONS OF PANLESS UNDEAD.  
DS: aww don’t be like that karkat   
DS: we were just getting to know each other too  
Karkat: ...  
Karkat: WHEN YOU’RE DONE UP HERE I’LL BE BY THE BONFIRE.

He jumped right down the damn tower, using various stone coffins across the place to break his fall, you aren't going to try that, at all, and use the stairs like a sensible person, there’s a sign about some broken parts of the stairway you knew about those already but that sure would have been useful to know when you climbed up, you bruised your left knee, which already looked bad with the zombie look and everything, if only you had been warned.

Your name is Calliope, Last of the Cherubim, and you saw the tragic event that unfolded from one of Rose’s experiments, usually Kanaya is able to stop her more eccentric plans but even she didn’t know it would go like this, it was a seemingly harmless idea. 

Karkat went after your, shall we say long lost brother in a way, he’s certainly better than the last brother you had. Regardless, you're getting ahead of yourself his hypothetical familial bond to you is only through a memory he no longer has and because of someone who left a while ago, you miss her, maybe he’ll bring her back, hopefully alive. 

You notice the ember on the ash pile by the bonfire.

Calliope: rose coUld yoU bring that ember to me please, yoU really shoUld have beforehand bUt i have an idea.  
Rose: What did you have in mind Callie?  
Calliope: yoUll see. ^u^

She brings you the ember, how lovely of her to comply to your request, you aren’t used to this yet, despite it being sweeps since you met your friends and now family. You hold the ember in your right hand, it’s flame goes out, and it crumbles to ash. The ash begins to weave into a shadow, and then weave together, strands of shadow forming a humanoid shape, a soft dark glow begins to form. You hand it to Rose, who later then hands it to Karkat, after what seems to be an apology from him once he comes back from what appears to be the clocktower. Oh you have so much lore on that tower, it was built by your people, so you know a lot about it first hand, which is rare, but goodness is that the time already?

You are now an insufferable prick, or so you tell yourself. That last comment was ridiculous why did you do that holy shit you really are an idiot. The guy tries to reassure you and you blow it, fuck you didn’t even try to with that one gods.

When you’re back from the tower Karkat’s at the bonfire like he said he would be, you sit down next to him.

DS: hey  
Karkat: HI I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU.  
DS: oh  
DS: what is it  
Karkat: CALLIOPE USED HER FUCKED UP CHERUB POWERS TO MAKE THE MURDER EMBER INTO SOMETHING YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE BUT I CAN UNDERSTAND IF YOU’RE HESITANT TO USE THIS THING CONSIDERING WHAT IT WAS BEFOREHAND.  
Karkat: IT’S CALLED A SKAIAN EFFIGY THESE THINGS HAVE VANISHED AROUND THE TIME DERSE FELL SO WE WON’T FIND ANY OUT ON OUR TRIP ACROSS THIS HELLSCAPE BUT WE WILL FIND EMBERS, WHICH WE CAN GIVE TO MISS LEGLESS TO TURN INTO EFFIGIES.   
DS: no i trust you so yeah ill try it out

He looks shocked at what you just said, but then relieved and he gives you a sort of humanoid thing weaved of shadows he called an effigy. You hold it and stare at it’s core, it’s almost like a flame or soul, but dark. You place it near your dark sign and heart like you did the ember and push it in. 

Dark intangible flamelike tendrils circle every part of your broken body, similar to the ones that made up the effigy, it’s as if your skin is growing, fixing itself, though plenty of scars you don’t remember remain. There’s suddenly a small pain in your left leg from when you bruised it. Your eyes, which were previously an empty white now have a bright red iris almost like karkat’s, not that anyone could have seen that with your shades on. Your hair also gains a vibrancy it didn’t have when you were hollow, a sort of strawberry blonde. Karkat just laughs and says it's just red, but it’s a genuine laugh, sort of familiar, though you can’t quite put a finger on why.

Karkat’s dark sign glows and something akin to blood mingles with the bonfire after burning for some time it then wraps around both of your ring fingers on your left hands, burning into them, a new scar to your “collection”, for some reason that thought makes you sick.

DS: dude what the fuck  
Karkat: CALM YOUR PAMPERED ASS THIS’LL KEEP US FROM DRIFTING INTO SEPARATE WORLDS IN THIS TIMELESS HELLSCAPE AS WELL AS LET US TRAVEL BETWEEN NATURAL BONFIRES AT WILL.  
DS: what do you mean by natural   
DS: and also how the fuck do you know if my ass is pampered or not  
Karkat: YOU’LL SEE WHEN WE REACH THE OCEAN AND ALSO NO FURTHER COMMENT ON THE STATE OF YOUR ASS  
DS: ok then thanks for the no info  
Karkat: YOU’RE WELCOME.  
Rose: Speaking of mothers it has come to my attention, based on the book I stole from you, that you’re out here because of some sort of motherly quest from the First Queen and Author. I will save this information for later.   
Kanaya: That Is Actually Adorable  
Rose: Very.  
Rose: I'll also be keeping the book up to date while I'm at it, filling her shoes so to speak, not like she has much access to you over here, probably for the best.  
Karkat: OH MY GOD YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD TELL YOU BOTH TO STOP BULLYING HIM BUT THAT IS ACTUALLY TOO ADORABLE FOR ME TO REFUTE SORRY YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN ON THIS ONE.  
DS: and here i thought we were all friends damn yall handing out asses like ive been on some sort of bitter ass famine for sweeps  
Kanaya: With How Long You Were Asleep That Is True.  
DS: ok so   
DS: im gonna need to find some macho horsedude to beat me up   
DS: cuz that is definitely gonna be more bearable than this conversation  
Kanaya: Theres One Just Outside Actually  
DS: oh my god karkat lets go  
Karkat: I DON’T KNOW THIS IS BOTH ENTERTAINING AND SATISFYING  
DS: i have no friends  
Calliope: :U

To introduce myself would be pointless, but suffice to say I will be taking over as narrator from here on out dear br~ actually let's not spoil that yet shall we, where were you anyway? Oh right, with even Callie mocking your suffering at the hands of your new yet strangely familiar friends you take your apparently pampered ass outside, Karkat shortly follows you he has a sickle and a shield that bears a faded cancer crest or at least half of it. The lower half of the crest is faded to the point of not being there at all, or was scratched off, you can’t actually tell.

You both eventually make it back to the arena where you were ambushed by something what seems like months ago but was likely just a few hours ago. You once again reach for the coiled sword at the 'Hallowed Halls' Bonfire, your dark sign glows and an orange flame starts to burn from the pile of bones and ash. It is then snuffed out and the bones scattered by a giant troll with two broken horns in an armour with plenty of horse imagery. Looks like Kanaya wasn’t kidding, but there’s a dark aura around him, his eyes are red but it looks like they shouldn’t be. 

Gatekeeper: D --> You who w001d link the fire are plagued by the dark of this world it will take great STRENGTH to purge that darkness from the rusted swill in your veins.  
DS: the fuck  
Karkat: OH GOD I FORGOT ABOUT THIS GUY DAMN IT. YEAH THERE’S NO WAY PAST HIM WITHOUT A FIGHT HE WAS STATIONED HERE TO JUDGE THE DREAMERS WHO WANT TO GET TO THE SHRINE, HE HOLLOWED AGES AGO BUT THAT ONE PRIMARY FUNCTION CONTINUES RELENTLESSLY.  
DS: fucking aces  
Karkat: THIS SUCKS BUT THERE’S REALLY NOTHING ELSE WE CAN DO.  
DS: alright then guess its time to put this piece of shit sword to the test

You let out a sigh and prepare your rusty ass sword, the gatekeeper pulls a sword that was in his back and throws it toward you, it appears he wasn’t aiming to harm you and just, gave it to you? Weird but you take it. The so-called greatsword is slightly heavier than what you were carrying. You, on a whim, decide to smash it against the now lone coiled sword and it breaks in half, making it much lighter. This decision gives you less range however it seems to fit your aesthetic somehow. Even broken it’s partially covered in an indigo viscous liquid, likely his blood, he’s a troll so that makes sense. 

Apparently he’s waiting for you to strike first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bet you thought the heir was going to be john didn't ya. don't lie, i'll know. 
> 
> as usual if y'all have any comments at all, or just want to express the giving of extra kudos i would love to see them. comments really motivate me (and most authors/writers) to actually continue this fic and while i'm likely to keep at it regardless it can get discouraging without them, which'll reflect in the amount of time it takes to update. don't feel you _have_ to comment but know that it'll likely make my day seeing it.


	5. IV: Houston, Atlantis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Heir of Fire Down, on to the second. Rose tries to meddle with Karkat's love life, wikipedia is vaguely involved. The Knight of TIme's iShades get ominous messages. An underwater city powers up for the first time in centuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Months in the future, but not many, I finally post the fourth chapter. Enjoy karkat shouting at rose and dave getting trolled by some rusty ass android he can't see.

It was probably your second attempt, you got greedy with your strikes in the first, the death wasn’t pleasant but you made it through. In the second battle you and karkat did something, both your dark signs glowed and then there was music? The Gatekeeper was overcome by some void serpent someway through the battle but that weird… attack, no wasn’t it more music a leitmotif? No that doesn’t sound right, either way you both felled him, somehow. He’s dying, but not dead, but the Dark seems vanquished, his eyes are now orange and an indigo iris that matches his blood.

Gatekeeper: D --> Thank you  
Gatekeeper: D --> I wish you luck on your quest, derse dreamer as f00lish as it is  
Gatekeeper: D --> If you find her, tell her that she was right  
Gatekeeper: D --> And that I was sorry

After his final words, the Hallowed Halls of Prospit ring with the sound of the clocktower, that you see in the distance. It flips between Prospit’s gold and Derse’s purple, does this for some time, just over four minutes. Eventually it settles on gold, something in your mind chimes that resonates that with the word Heroic, whatever that means. So dies the first Heir of Fire.

The souls collected by the gatekeeper are transferred to you, your ring glows, as does Karkat’s suddenly your soulpool has increased almost twelvefold but not from the souls of the Gatekeeper. It's not something that you gained, more like they were made available to you, somehow. You’re not quite sure what happened, but it looks like Karkat does, though he’s being quiet about it. You decide not to press him about it, he looks uncomfortable. 

You get distracted by something happening to the Gatekeeper, a dark blue substance flows over his body before coalescing into a ball, almost certainly his soul, not the ones he’s collected. Something compels you to pick it up, like with all souls, so you do. You can take it for yourself, like you have other souls, but something compels you to keep it, and so you place it in a card, “Soul of the Firelink Gatekeeper” and then into your sylladex.

His body starts to burn, that’s new, a coiled sword forms from his Dark Sign, seemed to be the Void sign. The bones of the Gatekeeper become ashes around the coiled sword. This bonfire replaces the one you tried to light, it seems to be named after the Gatekeeper. How you know that, or any of the bonfire names so far, you aren’t sure, but you shrug it off. Karkat makes a break for the bonfire, and just like that he’s gone, somehow you know he’s at the shrine.

You are now Karkat, and are feeling overwhelmed, you’d hoped the rings wouldn’t work but of fucking course they do, now he’s bound to you, again. Only this twisted ass undead hellscape would make the concept of soulmates literal. Back then you thought it was fucking romantic, past you, as usual, was a shitting idiot.

Rose: You’re having another one of your internal monologues Karkat, also welcome back where’s Da  
Karkat: HE’S AT THE GATEKEEPER WHAT’S IT TO YOU? INFACT WHAT DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE INNER WORKINGS OF MY THINKPAN LALONDE?  
Rose: Well  
Kanaya: No Dont Answer That  
Rose: I see the rings are working again, could that have to do with your current tantrum?  
Karkat: ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY WHY DID I AGREE TO RUN AROUND SKAIA WITH HIM LIKE A HEADLESS CLUCKBEAST  
Rose: You still love him, and his death earlier hurt enough that you wanted to protect him.  
Karkat: DID I ASK YOU?  
Rose: Yes.  
Kanaya: I Strongly Recall A Question Yes  
Karkat: THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I WAS CONTENT ON LOUDLY BROODING ON THE STAIRS ALL THIS TIME.  
Rose: We aid the chosen undead, that category still includes you.  
Karkat: DOES MEDDLING IN MY LOVE LIFE COUNT AS AIDING ME?  
Kanaya: I Have No Doubt That It Does.  
Karkat: OF COURSE YOU’D FUCKING THINK THAT  
Kanaya: So What Is It  
Karkat: WHAT?  
Kanaya: You Are Clearly Distressed  
Karkat: I AM NOT DOING THIS  
Rose: Karkat.  
Karkat: NOPE.  
Rose: Tell us what's wrong or I’m going to get on what’s left of wikipedia and find some pseudopsychology words to diagnose you with.  
Karkat: THE WORLD IS FULL OF WEIRD MEDIEVAL BULLSHIT HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ACCESS THE ANCIENT INTERNET?  
Rose: With my Seer of Light powers, obviously, that I get from being a Firekeeper.  
Kanaya: But Im A Sylph of Space  
Rose: You’re from Prospit hush I’m talking, and I didn’t say all Firekeepers are Seers of Light now did I?  
Rose: Now, Karkat, I have absolutely no advice for you, and who knows if I will after I’m done prodding but I will dig into what is going on with your feelings and it would be better for all involved if you shared willingly.  
Karkat: FINE BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU’RE PULLING UP A WEBPAGE IN MIDAIR LIKE THAT ALL GLOWING WITH RAYS OF SUNLIGHT AND I AM *NOT* UP FOR INDULGING YOUR PREVIOUS THREAT.  
Rose: Alright, I’m listening.  
DS: hey karkat you just fuckin ran off you ok did i do something you were only gone for a few minutes but i mis  
Karkat: THANK GODS.  
DS: what  
Karkat: NOTHING WE’RE GOOD.  
DS: oh aight then i was worried for a minute or four  
Karkat: OF COURSE YOU WERE.  
DS: what is *that* supposed to mean  
Karkat: NOTHING.  
DS: alright alright   
DS: be like that then  
DS: ill find out later

You are now a nintendo, by which I mean the Knight of Time, I know, hilarious. You are minutes in the past, but not many and your traveling companion ran the fuck away from you for some reason. You’re kinda bummed out by this turn of events so you sit by the bonfire and apparently try to suppress your emotions for a while.

You decide to head back to the shrine, something tells you that where he went, more like a feeling than actually deduction, you can’t describe it. You nervously step into the bonfire, your body burns, you think, you aren’t sure. Your soul is floating somewhere dark, like a reddish beacon out in nowherespace. 

You vaguely remember the place from when you’ve died before, but this time something’s different, you’ve got control over where you go, and can even shape your soul into a shape resembling a humanoid, you specifically. Where your dark sign would be is a lighter red stylised cog, next to you is two bonfires, one is blown out and shares the name “Hallowed Halls Bonfire” the one next to it looks new its called the “Firelink Gatekeeper Bonfire” like the one you originally passed through to get… wherever here is. 

Looking around you see a green fire and a red fire, on opposite ends of each other, the green one is within the vicinity of where you are, the red looks pretty far, but something tells you it wouldn’t be too long to reach. You go to the green one, it's called Firelink Shrine Bonfire, unsurprisingly. You just, step into it you guess, and are flung out of its waking world counterpart, you tripped and fell on your face in the process. It looks like Karkat is talking with the Firekeepers, good no one needs to know you fell face first into the floor.

DS: hey karkat you just fuckin ran off you ok did i do something you were only gone for a few minutes but i mis  
Karkat: THANK GODS.  
DS: what  
Karkat: NOTHING WE’RE GOOD.  
DS: oh aight then i was worried for a minute or four  
Karkat: OF COURSE YOU WERE.  
DS: what is *that* supposed to mean  
Karkat: NOTHING.  
DS: alright alright   
DS: be like that then  
DS: ill find out later  
Rose: So will I.  
Karkat: DON’T YOU START THIS AGAIN LALONDE.  
Rose: But I’m having the time of my unlife.  
DS: so am i but lets leave him alone or hell kill us  
Kanaya: He Has A Point  
Karkat: OH FUCKING *DOES* HE NOW? WHO’D HAVE *THOUGHT*?  
Rose: Here’s some cryptic advice no one asked for. You two should figure out what you want from all this.  
DS: youre right no one asked for anything  
DS: so keep the advice to yourself  
Karkat: LOOKS LIKE WE AGREE ON SOMETHING, LOOK ROSE, YOUR FUCKING EMINENT FIREKEEPERNESS OR WHATEVER THE FUCK EVEN THE NEW GUY AGREES WITH ME.  
DS: why wouldnt i

Karkat’s face is visibly red, not with anger, looks like he’s blushing, you laugh.

Karkat: DON’T YOU START TOO WE WERE JUST AGREEING ON THINGS.  
DS: fine fine ill play nice  
Kanaya: I See You Have Yourself A Twisted Soul Hold On To It You Might Make Something Useful  
Rose: With the right skill that is.  
DS: was that more cryptic advice  
Rose: Yes.  
Kanaya: Absolutely  
Rose: Get on with your quest already or I’ll be compelled to start some sort of passive aggressive war with you, I will bring the fridge and everything.  
Kanaya: That Sounds Like Fun  
Karkat: YEAH UHM I DON’T HAVE THE TIME FOR THIS SHIT I’M GOING TO GO OUTSIDE AND BROOD FOR A FEW MINUTES WHILE BIG SHOT KNIGHT OF TIME OVER HERE FIGURES OUT HIS NEXT MOVE.  
DS: wow  
DS: rude  
Karkat: YOU FUCKING LO

He cuts himself off and goes outside as promised, you decide not to follow him, as much as you’d want to.

Rose: Hey, I should probably give you more info on what you’re going to be facing in the Light and Rain.  
DS: oh shit some sisterly advice coming my way.  
Rose: Also, sorry for springing that on you, I thought it would be easier if you had someone familiar to talk to, even if you don’t remember me.  
DS: well uh  
DS: thanks  
DS: i guess  
DS: no big deal or anythin  
DS: why cant you tell me my name again  
Rose: It’s not mine to tell, sorry, now how about you listen up to this sisterly advice.  
DS: aight  
Rose: The android controlling the Light and Rain’s sunken cities, we told you it was deadly. There’s more to it.  
DS: when is there not more to a thing  
Rose: Never.  
DS: thought so  
Rose: It had a strong admiration to the King, but he’s been hollow for some time now, you’re the next best thing to the King.  
DS: are you really about to spring more shit on me that i dont know about  
Rose: No, at least, nothing direct. The shades your wearing used to belong to him, the King I mean, I can tell you as much.  
DS: huh  
DS: cool  
Rose: You're a Knight for a reason, and the android will latch onto you as if you were the King, be careful, his misguided attempts to be hospitable are deadly.  
Kanaya: Better Deadly Than Being An Excellent Host  
DS: what  
Kanaya: Nothing Important  
Kanaya: Yet  
Rose: The entire city will be against you, so be careful try not to die too often.  
DS: urgh  
DS: thanks for reminding me

She just smiles.

Rose: If you’re interested we could help empower you with some the souls you have. Though you’ll use them up.  
DS: that sounds like a headache to deal with  
Rose: Still.

She somehow pulls a… is that an rpg character sheet, that’s ridiculous, it has a bunch of statistics, somehow you know exactly what they mean. Your soul count is there too, you have enough for a few upgrades. So you add a bunch of points to Vigor, Endurance, Dexterity and Luck. This takes most of your soul count, but you don’t seem to be able to use it to upgrade anymore stats, despite having plenty more. Kanaya’s space sign was glowing along with Rose’s when you actually felt the changes. The character sheet Light bullshit is gone. You would later talk to Karkat about it, he says he doesn’t have his own stat sheet or whatever, which confused the fuck out of Rose some centuries back. Supposedly every dreamer has one, and he’s a dreamer so, he loudly shrugged when you pointed that out.

You check with Nanna for some supplies using some of your remaining souls before you both head back into the bonfire, and back still to the Firelink Gatekeeper Bonfire. From there you’ve got nowhere to go but forward, to the coast.

You are still the Knight of Time, through hoards of hollows, at least two deaths against one corrupted by a mass of an inky dark underling, like that serpent the Gatekeeper had. The third time you accidentally froze time and killed the thing before it could, sprout you guess.

You’re at a statue of liberty, you say a because apparently the light and rain is full of those things. There’s no bonfire, but there’s a device, or what’s left of a device, weird shards on the ground. As well as a message in a soda orange.

There is only danger ahead. Best you turn back.  
Forget this place.  
For your own safety do not activate the second bonfire.

There’s something familiar about the colour of this message, but you can’t put a finger on it.

Karkat: I SUPPOSE IT’S TIME WE IGNORED THE CRYPTIC WARNING AND MOVE INTO THE CITY.  
DS: pretty much  
DS: but  
DS: theres no other bonfire  
Karkat: OH RIGHT, THE BONFIRES HERE ARE ARTIFICIAL, OTHER THAN THE ONE NEXT TO THIS ONE, THAT PILE OF BLACK GLASS IS A BONFIRE. YOU’RE ACTUALLY ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE WHO CAN ACTIVATE THEM.  
DS: why me  
Karkat: BECAUSE SHUT UP.  
Karkat: SHUT UP IS WHY.

The shard things start to float in an abstract flamelike pattern, with a central core and pieces orbiting around it. After a while, the circuits glow red, and every artificial bonfire in the Light and Rain does the same. It’s online but it doesn’t actually work yet. A new message appears, in the orange again.

Since you’ve ignored my fucking warning  
I might as well help you. Ashen bones are required to make  
these bonfires active.

You picked up some bones from the hollows you’ve fought earlier, you’re able to move time relative to the bone forward, turning it to ash, it falls on the artificial bonfire.

The “natural” bonfire was called By Lady Liberty I. If you were to guess, the artificial system can’t hook up with the real bonfire network, making this the compromise. The red circuitry is now a pink colour you associate, for some reason, with the Heartbound of the undead.

DS: wow fuckin rude  
Karkat: I DON’T KNOW SEEMS PRETTY ACCURATE TO ME.  
DS: you wound me  
Karkat: I TRY.  
DS: did  
DS: did i give myself that username before all this  
Karkat: HOW SHOULD I FUCKING KNOW?  
DS: i dont know  
DS: guess i thought  
DS: since i knew rose in my previous life  
DS: i mightve known you too  
Karkat: ...  
DS: wow i managed to make keep quiet  
DS: achievement get  
DS: hah

~~ artificialRepresentation [AR] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at ??:?? on November 3rd 612-12AF ~~

AR: I don’t get many visitors you know. Its almost as if everyone is afraid of me. I’m only here to help.  
TG: uh  
AR: You should probably have turned off those iShades of yours. I managed to use my superior intellect to not only turn them back on but replace the entire OS with my own source code. You’re welcome.  
TG: who the fuck are you exactly  
AR: It seems you have asked about the Prince of Fire’s android avatar the Artificial Representation. This is a piece of machinery designed to simulate the Prince’s otherwise inimitably rad typing style, tone, cadence, personality, and substance of retort while he is away from this reality. The algorithms are guaranteed to be 96% indistinguishable from the Prince’s native neurological responses, based on some statistical analysis I basically just pulled out of my ass right now.  
TG: well then that explains it i guess  
AR: It seems you are also within the borders of my domain and have a genetic pattern 50% similar to the High King of Skaia. My hospitality subroutines have been initiated. Good luck.

~~ artificialRepresentation [AR] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] ~~

DS: uh  
Karkat: HOLY SHIT ARE YOU OK? YOU SPACED OUT FOR A MINUTE THERE.  
DS: yeah uhm these ishades still work and i think the android running this place just threatened me and also implied some shit  
Karkat: LIKE WHAT?  
DS: nothing i feel like gettin into  
Karkat: OK.  
DS: ok  
Karkat: YES OK I’M NOT ABOUT TO PUSH AT YOU TILL YOU BREAK I’M NOT ROSE.  
DS: right sorry yeah  
DS: thanks  
Karkat: WELL BE BETTER KEEP MOVING. THERE’S GONNA BE A BUNCH OF HOLLOWS TO DEAL WITH ALONG WITH WHATEVER BULLSHIT THE AR HAS SET UP SINCE TALKING TO YOU.

On that note, you step into the ocean, the city beneath is glowing with red lights from windows and circuitry. As far as the eye can see, humanoid machines activate, one of them managed to get you from behind. Lords you hate dying.

~~ artificialRepresentation [AR] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] ~~

AR: You should probably try not dying so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill by now, he'll revive at a bonfire, but which one?
> 
> Feel free to send comments my way if you liked it.


End file.
